Just occasionally I write about politics and football, and so it is that today I bring you a fascinating section in Tony Blair’s new memoir where he discusses agonising over whether or not to sack Gordon Brown and he recounts a conversation – actually, the implication is repeated conversations – with Sir Alex Ferguson:

…there is a crucial difference between political management and running, say, a company or a football team. A conversation I used to have with Alex Ferguson pinpointed this. ‘What would you do if you had a really difficult but brilliant player causing you problems?’ I would ask. ‘Get rid of them’ he would reply. ‘And supposing after you got rid of them they were still in the dressing room, and in the squad?’ I would say. ‘That would be a different matter’ he would reply, laughing.

Now I know some of you may already be reaching for a large pinch of salt given the former PM’s previous unhappy brush with footballing (not to say other) recollections. It’s passed into urban mythology, of course, that Blair lied about having watched Jackie Milburn at St James’ Park, but let’s put the salt back (on this one at least) because he was subsequently proved to have been misquoted.

Blair’s conclusion, of course, was that football and politics are different, and that it was better to keep Brown in the team rather than sacking him. And we all know what happened next: resignations, and relegation.

I can’t help but wonder what Sir Alex would have done if he’d been in Blair’s position.

I’m betting he’d have sacked Brown, let him stew in the reserves (ie back benches) and arranged for a transfer to the SNP.

Ask David Beckham, Jaap Stam, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Andrei Kanchelskis, Paul Ince, Gordon Strachan and Mark Hughes – to name a few.

Tony Blair’s memoir, ‘A Journey’, is published by Hutchinson.

By Tim Crow on September 2nd, 2010

Tags: David Beckham, Football, Manchester United, Politics

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